


Unlike Normal

by Shadowhunterwolf



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: "Slave" but not really, Angry Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Angst with a Happy Ending, Crazy Cultists, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, Dragon Inquisitor, Feral inquisitor, I've taken some very creative liberaties with this, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Lots of Angst, Loud Sex, M/M, Normal DA things, Not Beta Read, Selectively Mute Inquisitor, Sex Toys, Sign Language, Slow burn with Bull, Threesome - M/M/M, We meet Dorian very early on, Young Inquisitor (Dragon Age), angsty, lots of Tevene, lots of porn, tiny inquisitor, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-16
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-16 03:54:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11820690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowhunterwolf/pseuds/Shadowhunterwolf
Summary: Na’etherrial is new to... basically everything he encounters, recently having escaped from his captors he takes refuge in the first building he comes across - which just so happens to be the Temple of Ashes. The last he seems to remember in entering the building then the next thing he's sitting chained to the floor with some crazy armoured lady shouting at him in another language. She leads him to a hole in the sky, threatens his life and then apologises - all in all not a bad day in his books.-My inquisitor in this story cannot speak or understand common, this will be explained why and don't worry we'll soon have someone he can speak too! this goes really canon divergent around the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts quest but as is it's already very AU!





	1. Who Ever Dressed Me Needs To Be Fired

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So this is the first Fanfiction I'm actually uploading online so I hope its not too bad! This isn't Beta'd and if anyone is willing to help just send me a message and we can talk!
> 
> Constructive criticism is greatly welcomed and if anyone has a request for the story I'd gladly listen, while the story is mainly fleshed out there are still a few minor things I'm working on!
> 
> Enjoy!

**9:41 Dragon**

Na’etherrial was startled to consciousness, not by the feeling of lying on a cold floor or the restricting tightness of manacles on his wrists – no he was rather used to that, but rather it was due to the feeling of being surrounded by other living beings. He jolted up in fear and scrambled backwards rather violently, surprising those surrounding him – the first person he noticed was the woman covered in metal armour who radiated power, then was the red head who stood next to her. Na’etherrial hardly took notice of the other three soldiers that had their swords drawn against him, the two women were clearly in charge and therefore the bigger threat.

“Why were you at the conclave?”

The short haired woman then barked out a few words that he didn’t understand, _they_ had never bothered to teach him to speak nor did he pick up any common from listening to them so he was rather lost as to what she was asking him. He just cocked his head a little to the side, trying to convey his lack of understanding to her.

“Do not try to play dumb with me, we have many witnesses who have said that they saw you climb out of the fade near the explosion!”

Yet some more harshly spoken words he did not know the meaning of, it was obvious that she was angry at him about something – but he could not glean anything other than that. He stared at her blankly hoping that she would soon realise that he did not understand what she was asking of him. However this just seemed to make her angrier as she stomped up to him, he shrank back in fear – he did not want her touching him, this seemed to make her falter a little before she went back to shouting at him and making agitated gestures. Na’etherrial glanced over her armoured shoulder to the red haired woman, she seemed to be thinking about something as she was staring at him quite intensely – he shuffled in closer to himself as if trying to escape from her gaze.

“Cassandra stop.” With these words the angry woman had ceased her shouting and movements to glance back at the other.

“What? We need to interrogate him about what he did to the divine! What that marks on his hand means as well.”

“Cassandra look at him, he looks absolutely petrified and he’s been looking at you like you’re making no sense. I do not think that he can actually understand you.”

“What?” she looked back towards him, he just stared at her in terrified shock. “Impossible, he must just be pretending – he’s been caught so of course he would try and act clueless.”

Na’etherrial just curled into himself more, he was frightened – he didn’t know where he was, who these people were nor why they were angry with him.

“Cassandra look at him, he can’t be older than 20 nor does he seem to be pretending – I really do think that he cannot understand you. I have seen many people try to pretend they do not understand you but you can always see it in their eyes and he simply looks afraid and lost.”

The armoured lady looked back over at him, he just eyed her warily over his knees, restricted by the chains when he tried to wrap his arms around himself.

“Do you know what that is?” She asked while pointing at his hand.

He had no idea what she asked but he startled when he followed her pointing and looked at his left hand, it was glowing a bright sickly green, and he hadn’t noticed in his panic but now that he thought about it his had pulsed in pain each time the mark flared. He whimpered a little and tried to scratch it away with his other hand but it stubbornly remained where it was, he desperately looked at the two women trying to get any answers from them. They glanced at each other and the short haired one seemed frustrated.

“How will we find out what is happening if the only person who could give us any answers seemingly cannot understand a word we say?! How do we know how he’s involved, he could be the whole cause for this?!”

Na’etherrial followed her gesture and gaped at the sight, there was a huge, green hole in the sky! He turned his head, still gaping, and stared at the two women wondering what the fuck had happened while he was seemingly out cold.

“Maybe we could get some answers if we take him back to sight of his crimes, hopefully there are some clues there that could shed some light on this horrible event.” The red head turned to leave after speaking, leaving him alone with other guards and the armoured woman.

She angrily stalked towards him with a pair of keys in her hands, he yelped and tried to scoot backwards in fear, what was she going to do to him, where were they taking him? His attempts were stopped by the short chain attached to the floor, the woman faltered and then slowed and softened her approach – reaching out to him slowly as if trying to say that she wouldn’t harm him. He almost snorted at the action but let her unchain him from the floor but she kept the manacles on.

She gestured at him to follow her and he glanced around – there were too many guards with very sharp weapons to try and risk running away so he filed the thought away for later, plus he might be able to get some answers for the obvious questions that he had. Firstly – how the fuck had he ended up here?

 

Na’etherrial was led outside the area where he was chained up into an old, decrepit looking building – there were weird looking cloths hanging on the walls and a large pair of doors in the direction they were headed. He squinted against the harsh light that assaulted his retinas when the large wooden doors were forced open with a loud creak.

There was a crowd of people loitering around the courtyard of the building, they all stared at him and whispered in barely hushed voices – not that he could understand what they were saying anyway but he could assume that it was not anything good. The short haired woman led him around the small town and out the gate into a land of ice and snow, taking him up a small path leading up into the mountainside. She was talking – probably to him but he just blocked her out, rather he focused on the gaping hole in the sky – how had that happened? Why could he not remember anything about the events leading up to the moment he was brought here? The last he could remember was running, the wind in his long hair and the feeling of the spirit bound to his soul – he had run away from _them_ soon after the ritual, feeling restless, feeling the need to be _free_ for the first time in his life. Then this happens and now he’s once again in chains without knowing why.

The tear in the sky flared as did the mark on his hand, as if they were communicating – the pain intensified so much so that he fell to his knees gasping in pain, tears collected in his eyes but he refused to let them fall. The woman knelt down next him and offered to help him up but he ignored her hand and got up by himself – she just shrugged and continued forward until we reached a bridge. She nodded at the soldier guarding the gate and he opened it up for, there were a few other men patrolling around the bridge, one was even getting patched up and Na’etherrial could see the bright red blood staining his clothes. They were halfway across the bridge when the ground rumbled and fire spewed forth from the tear, something hit the bridge and it crumbled in on itself, dropping them harshly onto the compact snow below, he heard the crunch of bones of a few unfortunate soldiers who got caught in the rubble. He could smell burnt flesh and his ears rang – whether or not it was from the blast or from the meeting his head and the floor got he would never know.

He blearily stood up and waited until the world was in focus and stopped spinning before he bothered looking up and when he did he was frozen in place, there was the woman fighting a… creature with her sword, she swung that thing around like it weighed nothing and Na’etherrial was somewhat impressed. But what had caused his hesitation was the other _thing_ that was closing in on her, he could just do and let it kill her – then he could escape and go on with his life… but he looked up at the sky, there was something else going on here and he was a part of it whether he liked it or not. So he sucked in a breath of icy air and hurriedly looked around, trying to find anything he could use as a weapon, and there by a bunch of broken stones from the bridge was a staff that he could use.

He shot a ball of fire at the creature sneaking up on his capture just as she swung her sword down and cleaved the other one in half, she swung her head around so fast to look at him that Na’etherrial wondered how her head was just attached to her body.

“Put the weapon down immediately!” She shouted something at him, he brought the staff in closer to himself as if it would protect him from her anger.

She then stopped and looked contemplative, she then shook her head and seemed to calm down. “I guess I can’t protect you and myself at the same time so you may keep the staff, but do not even think of trying anything! Come here so that I can unchain you.” The woman gesture towards him and then to herself, motioning to come closer.

Na’etherrial was extremely wary of walking closer to her, afraid of what she might do so he stayed back but she seemed to lose her calm and stopped over to him, her shoes crunching in the snow. He whimpered and slumped into himself – there was nowhere else to run to other than straight into her so he stayed put. He felt her hands around his wrists and he clenched his eyes shut harder fearing a hit but instead he just felt the manacle on his wrists loosen and then fall off - Na’etherrial looked up at her in surprise but she was already walking away. He just hurried and run to catch up to her, walking just slightly behind her as they made their way up paths and over a frozen river, fighting creatures all the while and passing corpses of people, some in armour and others not until they reached another bridge closer to the tear.

There were no guards posted here, everything was on fire and Na’etherrial could hear the sounds of battle not too far away from where they were. The woman started running ahead, towards the sound of battle rather than away from but what did he expect from someone dressed in heavy armour – he just rolled his eyes and sprinted after her, wielding his staff like a spear as he turned the corner, narrowly missing someone’s head and rather smashing through the head of a creature. Na’etherrial pulled it out of the melting corpse’s body and continued on killing things with a mixture of magic and hard hits.

During a brief respite when he wasn’t being pelted by hits he glanced over to the side and saw something that resembled the hole in side but instead it was miniature, he walked a little closer but stopped when he felt a pull on his hand – both in the real world and something in the fade. He jerked his head to the side and tried to jerk her left hand out of the man’s grasp, he doubled his efforts when he saw the man was an elf they man just jerked his hand and thrust it out towards the small tear. Na’etherrial whimpered in slight pain as he felt the mark reach out to hole, then he felt like it hand grasped onto something and then the man let his wrist go, allowing him to jerk his hand back and in turn it pulled back the connection connecting the mark on his hand to the hole. They all watched in awe as the hole collapsed on itself and closed, the other man and the woman along with two brown cloaked figures were openly gaping at him, and he shuffled away from the other elf and retreated into himself, making him seem even smaller.

“Did you know he could do that?” the shortest one of the group asked the woman, upon closer inspection Na’etherrial noticed that he was actually a dwarf – he’d never actually met one in person!

“No I did not since he has actually not said a single word to anyone since he woke up, Lelianna suspects he cannot actually understand common but I suspect he may just be pretending to try and get out of trouble.” Na’etherrial just ignored what she was saying and kept his eye on the other elf, making sure he moved no closer to him.

“Hey Chuckles, can you try anything? Maybe he knows elvish?” the dwarf said to the other elf.

“I can try Varric but I really do wish you would stop with that ridiculous nickname,” He said to the dwarf then turned towards Na’etherrial. “Andaran atish’an da’len.” He said something and looked at Na’etherrial as if he expected him to know what that meant.

Na’etherrial Just tilted his head to the side and glanced at the other two to see if they knew what was happening, the woman just shook her head in frustration and the dwarf seemed to be contemplating something.

“It seems he doesn’t know elvish either, how strange…” Mumbled the dwarf as he fiddled with the large bow in his hand.

“Are we sure he can even hear us? Perhaps he is deaf.” Na’etherrial backed away toward the human and dwarf to get away from the elf, completely ignoring their conversation.

“No he can definitely hear, you can see how he turned to face us when we were talking.” The woman shook her head at the elf.

Now standing next to the dwarf, whom he perhaps felt the safest next to - Na’etherrial glanced down at his hand, the ache in it was deep and it took everything in his power to not clutch it to his chest. He looked over at the dwarf when he felt a pat on his arm, he was making gestures with his hands and Na’etherrial’s eye lit up with recognition – the dwarf knew sign!

**Do you understand sign?** The dwarf asked him, he nodded his enthusiastically – finally someone he could communicate with! **What is your name?**

Na’etherrial tilted his head at the foreign gesture, **what is that?** He asked back, trying to copy the gesture.

**A name?** Na’etherrial nodded, his care taker had never taught him that one – the paused and pondered a little before answering. **A name is what you call yourself and what other people refer to you as.** Na’etherrial’s eyes widen in realisation.

“Na’etherrial.”

He saw the woman’s head snap in his direction and the elf seemed to squint at him as if he wanted to question him. The dwarf began to slowly sign as he spoke, perhaps it was translations of what he was saying - Na’etherrial could see that he did not know sign very well, he often had to stop and think before signing or he had to spell out a word he did not know.

“It seems that he knows sign, I had just asked him his name – though he did not know what the term was – I myself do not much other than the bare bones so I won’t be able to communicate completely but at least we can get the point across.”

“I find it strange that he knows no elvish yet his name comes from ancient elvhen, I would love to know where he come from.” The elf said to the dwarf.

Before he could sign anything Na’etherrial asked him what his name was.

“My name is Varric, this dangerous looking woman here is Cassandra and the other elf is Solas.” He spoke as he signed, spelling each name with care so to make sure he got them right.

**I refer to them by Seeker and Chuckles, you may too just so we do not have to spell out their names each time.** Na’etherrial smiled at Varric, glad that he actually took him into consideration.

**Hello Varric it is lovely to meet you.** He answered a little slower so that Varric would be able to properly read his hands.

Ignoring any other attempt at conversation from Cassandra and the elf, Na’etherrial just motioned to Varric that they should continue on towards the hole in the sky. Chuckling to himself Varric just nodded and told their companions, Cassandra grunted to herself and Solas sighed.

They passed over a frozen river and fought some more of the demons that came from the fade – the situation had been explained to him from Varric while they were not fighting. Solas tried interacting with him but Na’etherrial just flat out ignored him – not even bothering trying to hide his disdain for the other elf. On the other side of the river there was a burning house that he picked his way through and looted some of the items from a pot and a chest and took the money that was lying on the floor, he ignored the indignant gasp from Cassandra and smirked over at Varric when he let out a short laugh.

Na’etherrial saw that there was another house to the right of the path they had to go down but this one was not damaged in any way that he could see so he just left it alone for the owner to come back too. They made their way up the mountain side towards another large gate, hopefully this one opened up to a better situation, Cassandra barked out something to the guard who hurried had the gate opened and lo and behold it led out onto another bridge.

This one was larger and had more soldiers on it, along with more weapons and an open create with bottles stacked inside, Na’etherrial swiped one when Cassandra or anyone wasn’t looking and stuffed it into a pocket of his loose pitting pants. He pulled a face at the outfit he was wearing – who the fuck had dressed him in this? He sighed and shook his head, this was a matter for another time – when they weren’t in danger of dying from a hole in the sky.

When Na’etherrial focused on his companions again, Cassandra was in a heated argument with a man in a white robe who was wildly gesturing in his direction, his face was slowly become redder and redder the more they argued on. He walked closer to them and stood on the woman’s right, staring at the man as he continued to rant on, not even bothering to hide his distaste for Na’etherrial – the two of them continued to exchange words until the man was silenced by a wave of the woman’s hand.

“Which way would you like to go? Up the mountain pass or through the front lines?” She said as she pointed in the direction of the mountain and to the battle field in front of them.

She just stared at him for a minute or two before it became obvious to Na’etherrial that she had asked him a question. He glanced in the directions that she had pointed in, one seemed calm but difficult to traverse while the other was alive with the sounds of battle – he glanced at Varric for confirmation on what she was asking.

**Would you like to go the back pass or through the frontlines? Going up the pass would be much quicker but some people may be lost in the battle however if you go through the front then precious time will be lost in order to close the breach.** Varric signed, having to spell out some words and contemplate others.

**They’re asking me what to do? Just a few hours ago they wanted to kill me! What the hell?** Na’etherrial pouted as he grumpily signed making Varric chuckle and shrug. **Fine… we’ll go the mountain pass – we need to be a quick as possible in trying to close the massive hole in the sky.**

The dwarf repeated what he said to the others and Cassandra frowned while the others nodded in understanding, Na’etherrial ignored the robed man and made his way to the other gate – not even bothering to check if the others were following him. He made his way up the snow covered land until he reached a ladder.

The upwards climb of the series of ladders led them to a weird building that was built into the mountain, they ran into a couple of demons but those were easily dispatched - Na’etherrial shuddered at the slimy feeling of the others elf’s magic washing over him and glared at him out of the corner of his eye. Solas just raised his eyebrow and continued shooting ice at the demon in the dark – once they finished Na’etherrial efficiently made his way through the area, getting a few items and battling a few more demons.

As they made their way out of the building into the blinding whiteness of the snow, Na’etherrial saw bodies of people lying about – they were clearly dead, he just glanced over them before the sounds of battle floated over to him. Following the sounds led to another rift and two other people barely fending off a group of demons. He immediately rushed into battle to help them, the others following behind him – the fight lasted longer than any of the previous one, the demons seemed to be a bit stronger than the others they had fought so far.

Finally he managed to close the rift and Cassandra and the two people they had just saved started talking, Na’etherrial looked away in disinterest – at least he had helped saved lives but he didn’t really care what they talked about. The two ‘scouts’ rushed away towards the area they had just come from as Na’etherrial and his companions now made their way towards the breach, finding more ladder leading down he just let out an irritated sigh and slowly started making his way down.

-\\-\\-

They finally reached the first signs of what had been the temple of ashes as Varric had described it – apparently some important lady’s ashes had been scattered around the area and had thus made this land very important to the robed people. Na’etherrial swallowed hard at the sight of all the people burnt to nothing in their final moments – not enough of them remaining to be able to even try and identify them.

As they made their way to the inner parts of the temple more and more bodies appeared – most were only bits and pieces of legs and arms, occasionally there was head and some of the pieces were still on fire. He had to bit down the urge to throw up, ashes clogged his sinuses and he was sure that his saliva would be pitch black with the amount of ash he has breathed in. They were greeted by the red haired woman in the purple robes and more of the soldiers as the entered what seemed to be the main area of the breach.

**So all I have to do is close… that thing?** He pointed at the giant gaping hole in the sky, its swirling mass looked even more ominous up close. **How am I supposed to get up there? Unless one of you can fly I think we may have a problem.**

Varric relayed Na’etherrial’s thoughts to the others and the red hared woman barely showed her shock at his ability to communicate. The elf said something to the dwarf and he curled his lip in disdain, he really would prefer not getting any help from Solas but it seemed that he was the most knowledgeable about the matter.

Varric tapped him on the side to gain his attention and he glanced down at him, softening his features and giving him a shaky smile. **Chuckles says that you just need to close the breach here at the bottom and the hole in the sky should close as well.**

Na’etherrial just nodded in understanding and looked around for a way to get down, he saw a path leading around the area – he followed it slowly, making sure that what he was stepping on wasn’t the burnt remains of other people even though he was certain that the layer of dust covering the floor was partially the ashy remains of the other people who were in the temple.

As they made their way down a deep rumbling voice echoed through the temple - Na’etherrial hunched into himself and warily glanced around, the voice had a familiar lint to it but he couldn’t figure out what it was that was so familiar. He couldn’t understand what was being said until his voice shouted out, Cassandra and the other glanced sharply at him but he just shrugged – he could barely remember the events that transpired as is, never mind his involvement in it.

They continued on downward towards the breach, the green light created a shifting light show that danced in time with the movement of the rift – the finally reached the base of it and Na’etherrial clenched his teeth to brace for the pain that would follow. He reached out and felt the fade pull at the mark and he pulled back tugging the rift open – he let out a shocked scream at the huge demon that appeared and he staggered back, barely aware of Cassandra shouting and archers letting of a hail of arrows at the demon. He was startled out of his shock by Varric as he harshly poked him in the side, he steeled his nerves and started shooting fireballs and electric bolts at the spikey monster – it roared in anger and lashed out with the huge chain around its arm. The end of it hit Na’etherrial’s thigh and he let out a sharp whimper at the feel of it – he didn’t think it was broken but it was definitely bruised, he whipped his arm out to the breach and pulled harshly.

The demon let out a roar as the rift lashed out with a harsh burst of green light, it dropped to its knees and Cassandra didn’t let this opportunity go to waste – she let out a war cry and double her efforts in trying to kill the demon, everyone also seemed to up their energy level as they let out a wave of arrows and Solas joined by shooting ice attack after ice attack. Na’etherrial shakily got to his feet, gripping his left arm with his right as the pain from the mark travelled up his arm – he could feel it going for his heart and he knew that if it reached it then he would die.

The demon screamed in pain as Varric landed the final hit on it and it started disintegrating, the flecks floating into the sky – Cassandra shouted at him and he reached out to the rift, he gave it one last pull and the rift closed with bang. Everyone was knocked off their feet by a green wave of light, Na’etherrial collapsed onto his side and looked at his arm – it seemed like it had stopped growing up his arm at least, his eyes fell closed just as he saw Varric and Cassandra rushing towards him.


	2. I Am In Fact, Not A Woman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Na’etherrial often wondered how he was going to die, never had he thought it would be by a scary woman in armour or being squashed by a falling building.  
> Also - Love is hard when you cant actually communicate with others like a normal person and your designated translating dwarf seems to be broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Welcome to the second chapter! Sorry for the long delay but I have my finals soon and I've been killing myself under study notes o-o
> 
> Please enjoy!

The scene that Na’etherrial woke to was so unbelievably different to the one that he awoke to before that he pinched his leg harshly through his pants to make sure he wasn’t in some fucked up dream or illusion – he whimpered in confused pain, it was indeed real.

He was lying in a bed with the sheets tucked around him, sunlight streamed in through one of the windows and glittered on a potion bottle next to the bed - he could hear the muted chatter of people through the thin walls and the whistle if the wind finding its way into the house through cracks in the wooden structure. Na’etherrial shuddered at the absurdity of the situation he had woken to, the last time he graced the world with his conscious mind he had been chained up in the basement of some dingy, old building, taken across the a frozen countryside, fought against demons in a team made up of a crazy, armoured lady, a dwarf and a god-forsaken elf. He then used some glowing green light on his hand to close up a hole in the heavens after fighting a giant demon with a whip kink – so it was perhaps understandable that he was a bit underwhelmed by the scene he awoke to.

Na’etherrial was wonder the pro and cons of pinching himself again when he was startled by the sound of something dropping to the floor close to the entrance of the door and he turned his head just in time to catch an elf woman falling to the floor on her knees, she pushed her forehead against the wooden flooring and started blabbering out words that he couldn’t understand and were said so fast he probably wouldn’t be able to even if he could understand ‘common’ as Varric had called it. He grunted at her and motioned for her to get up off the floor, no matter how lowly he thought of elves, no one was low enough to behave or be treated like nothing more than slaves – he would know.

The woman shot up and shouted something to do with ‘Casandra’ – the armoured lady? – and she rushed out in a blur, Na’etherrial was actually somewhat stunned at the speed that she moved at and stared blankly at the spot she had stood for several seconds before he shook his astonishment off and he slowly got of the bed, he winced in pain as it felt like he had been used as a chew toy by a dragon the way his body ached. He glanced down at his body and shook his head at the ridiculous baggy pants he was dressed in and the absolutely terrible choice of shirt that covered his pale chest, he looked around for something he could hopefully change into that didn’t make him look like a blind horse had dressed him and noticed the things that the elf had dropped to the floor – it seemed to be a change of clothes and pretty decent ones he could see from the texture.

-

Na’etherrial was only partly sure that some of the looks he received when he leaved the hut were due to his outfit, the leather tights he was wearing greatly complemented his slim hips and thick thighs – it didn’t help that the pants clung to his ass just enough to accentuate its size – and the leather vest he donned without the white shirt that had been presented with it barely covered his nipples and was cut just high enough to show the top of his hipbones that weren’t covered by the pants. When the sun shone on his chest one could just barely catch the glint of something metal attached to his right nipple and since he chosen to tie up his waist length, fire red hair into a messy bun that crowned the top of his head one could also catch the multitude of golden earrings that clung to his barely pointed ears.

The amount of whispers that he could catch with his enhanced hearing made no sense to him but he could catch the tone, and it was directly opposed to what he had before when he walked out into the small town that he wasn’t entirely sure that he _was_ in the same place he had awoken before – that was until he caught sight of some of the people he had passed before when he was paraded out of the town in manacles.

He made his way around the area, walking past a building that was alive with the loud sounds of rambunctious adults and reeked of the disgusting amber liquid that his captures served to him when they wanted him compliant and easy to handle. He almost walked back the way he came when he spotted the bald elf standing close to house up a small staircase but decided against it in case anyone saw and would start asking questions, so he just completely blocked the other elf’s presence from his mind and continued on his way up a separate set of stone stairs – there were some cloth covered areas that shadowed boxes and something he couldn’t see since there was a woman standing in the front of it and it was also covered by more cloth. He had no idea what the strange structures were so he decided to also ignored their presence entirely, he noticed a wooden chest but left it alone for that moment, if he was not killed by the armoured lady in the next few hours then he would happily spend his time exploring his surroundings and the different items presented to him.

He made his way towards the large wooden doors that marked the entrance to the building where he had first woken up, bound and held captive once again but by a different set of people entirely – maybe it was his destiny to be bound and held against his will because it certainly seemed so based on the three times he could remember it happening to him. He pushed open one of the overly large doors – seriously who needed such large doors, were they compensating for something? – with relative ease and glanced around at the interior of the building as he was a little too caught up in different events the last time he had been there to focus on the décor and architecture.

Na’etherrial was slightly overwhelmed by the only slightly larger building he could remember seeing that was not currently exploded into fragments and smelled of burnt flesh – in comparison this one was marginally in a better state, for which he was eternally thankful as he wasn’t sure he could ever get the smell out of his hair now. He tilted his head at the sound of angry, shouting voices that came from behind a door at the end of the hallway that he started to walk towards once he heard the familiar frustrated voice of Cassandra and the only slightly calmer but no less furious of the other red haired woman that was there when he woke the last time.

Unable to curb his curiosity he opened the first door that he crossed on the left side of the building and had to supress a violent shudder at the sight of steps that down into the inky darkness of the basement where he was originally held – he quickly shut the door and power walked away from the vicinity of the door. The next door he came across he was kind of hesitant about opening but he gathered up the and almost slammed the door open in his rush, nearly hitting a stoic women that stood behind it - Na’etherrial blushed brightly in embarrassment and mumbled out a barely legible apology but she just stared blankly at him and he hurriedly closed the door, putting of exploration of that room until his embarrassment was forgotten.

He spotted a door across the entranceway and rushed towards it, inching the door open and peering around the thin crack he had made into the room that lay beyond and letting out a joyful noise as he found that it was empty of people – he opened the door fully and made his way inside, making sure to close the door behind him and then he surveyed the interior of the lantern lit room. There were two beds covered in rough blankets and animal pelts – he made a note of this so he could sneak back in later and maybe nick them for himself – there were more wooden chests placed at the ends of the beds and there were small tables placed next to them that had little knob placed at equal lengths down the front. Na’etherrial decided to check the chests first as this was something that he was familiar with, he flicked open the latch that held it closed and hefted the lid open then curiously glanced at the contents of the box. It was filled with mismatch and worn cloths from woolly pants that had a multitude of stains and holes in them to equally stained shirts and jackets that would be overly baggy on him – he dug his hands around the chest, pausing only when the shouting emanating from the other room gained a louder pitch but he shrugged it off and continued his search. His hand bumped into something that was heavier and that had a completely different texture to the clothing that surrounded it, he pulled it out and examined it – it was a foot shaped object that was made from hard worked leather and thick cloth, there was something similar to this is the house he had seemingly slept in but he had no idea what they were, how they were used nor what they were for so he shrugged and messily tucked it back into the chest.

Na’etherrial didn’t find anything else worth investigating in the chest and decided that the other one would heed similar results so he let it be for now until a time when he was bored again and made his way over to the small tables next to the bed but something lying on top of the blankets caught his eye. It was a book, his caretaker from before had often snuck these to him and taught him how to read in a futile attempt to give him something that he could call his own, along with the ability to verbally communicate. He opened the cover of the book but frowned in bemusement, none of these words meant anything to him and he threw the book back onto the bed in frustration – he vowed to find someone or something that he could understand, the brief thought that his caretaker had tricked him and taught him some unreal language was quickly discarded – the sign language she had taught him was obviously real so why would the other things be fake.

He shook the negative thoughts of his past out of his head and focused his attention back on the table next to the bed, he touched the protruding knob and fiddled around with it wondering what its purpose was – he twisted and turned it, pushed it so hard that the whole table rattled and eventually just as he was about to give up on finding out how the mysterious object worked, he pulled at the knob and a whole section of the table pulled out along with it. Na’etherrial was barely able to stop the entire section from falling to the floor and probably alerting the entire building to his presence and subsequently to his snooping – lifted the section back to the hole it had left and jiggled it around until it finally slipped back into place.

Being much gentler this time he pulled the section of table out just until it was resting on the edge but still stuck in its place, he then finally took his chance to investigate the contents and slowly started pulling different items out into the dim light so that he could better examine them. The first thing he pulled out was a tiny blade that while sharp would hardly do much damage other than a deep cut, it was hardly sharp enough to even try and think about skinning anything with it and it was too delicate to try and hunt with – so Na’etherrial shrugged and placed it back in the spot it was before. The next thing he pulled out was a small wooden object that seemed to be shaped into something but it wasn’t anything he could remember seeing, shrugging again he placed the unidentified object back into the table.

The next object he pulled out jiggled and made noise and he moved it about, it was a simple cloth bag tied closed with a leather cord and as he struggled to open it he noticed that it was quite dusty from disuse – maybe if it was so unused then he could easily take it without anyone missing it. When he finally rid the bag of the cord and could finally open it to see what was in it the shouting in the other room had risen once again and Na’etherrial was intensely curious as to what was going on. So he rushed and looked at its occupants – the sight that greeted him made him let out a soft laugh of amazement, it was round circles of the same shiny material that his earrings were made of – he confirmed this when he tapped on it with one of his sharpened nails and it gave off a satisfying ‘clink’ sound.

Na’etherrial closed the bag and stuffed it into the small sack he had attached to his waist and left the room, while making sure it was closed properly he closed the door quietly and then faced his next obstacle – the door that the shouting was emanating from. He slowly made his towards it, trying to prolong the emotionally and/or physically painful experience he would have once he entered – he gripped the handle of the door and slowly pushed the door inwards, trying to be as quiet as possible but the door let out an impossible to ignore screech. All heads turned to him and he let out an embarrassed chuckle, trying to hide his nervousness and unwillingness to be in the same room with a majority of people who had wanted him dead the last time he was awake.

Cassandra made an impatient grunt and motioned for him to hurry up with a wave of her hand, he rushed into the room and stood further away from her than he probably needed to – he waved over at Varric when he noticed him and then went back to focusing on the others in the room. He looked back at Varric once he realised that he couldn’t understand what was being said and thus needed a translator, as vague and slow as it was – Varric explained that basically Robe Man wanted him to be taken to the ‘Chantry?’ and be tried for the death of a lady but Cassandra was sticking up for him – was he actually in a really intense dream despite his pinching? – and that she thought he would be a bigger help by being with them.

He was very confused as to when he actually he _agreed_ to stay and help them but it wasn’t like he was needed anywhere else, so he shrugged it off and thought that it might be fun to stay – fighting kinky demons, trying not to be killed by the armoured woman’s more _intense_ looks, having a portable ‘hole to another dimension’ on his hand ( ** _ten points to your house of choice if you get this reference :P)_** and saving people like the hero he obviously was.

Oh shit he hadn’t been paying attention and now everyone was staring at him as if they expected him to make some life altering decision – he just shrugged and nodded hoping that he hadn’t just agreed to be strung up naked and fed to wild goats. It seemed to be the right choice as Cassandra looked smugly at Robe Man – they argued some more and she pulled out a heavy, dusty and obviously old tome – where the fuck was she keeping that thing? – it had the symbol of an eye that seemed to be on fire in leafed gold with a burnt red cover. This seemed to piss the other man off, as he was now turning a nice reddish-purple colour as he shouted to her as he stormed out the room, nearly forgetting to pull open the door and walk into it – he seemed to remember that he simply couldn’t faze through the door and roughly pulled it open, the old hinges moaned in agony and he slammed the door close so hard that some fragments of stone fell down - Na’etherrial fretted that after narrowly seeming to escape death by being murdered that he would be put in by a fucking building.

Varric motioned to get his attention and explained very basically of what was happening, making sure he _actually wanted to stay_ , what the inquisition meant and symbolised, what they were planning and what needed to be done in the upcoming days. Na’etherrial just nodded, not really paying that much attention to what he was _trying_ to sign and he looked over at the intense conversation that Cassandra and the red haired lady were having – he wondered what they were saying, sometimes it sucked not being able to understand what others were saying.

҉҉҉҉҉

The days blurred by as the village bustled with activity, an inquisition flag was hung and a handsome blonde man started teaching some other people sword techniques - Na’etherrial had seen the red haired women, whose name he learned was Leliana, release some ravens that had little papers attached to their legs, they had flown off in different directions.

Na’etherrial had basically just stood around doing nothing and barely communicating with anyone, it was hard enough trying to get his point across with Varric there, never mind when he wasn’t since he didn’t even understand if someone was asking something of him. So rather than stand around and do nothing he decided to get ask Varric if he could ask around the town if there were any favour that the people around town needed done.

So far he had run around the frosty wilderness outside of Haven looking for a logging stand and iron deposits – apparently these were called _requisitions_ and fulfilling these helped the people in the inquisition. Another task was for the man that had taken care of him the second time he had fallen unconscious, he needed some notes about medicine that another man had left behind - Na’etherrial had run around for hour looking for the notes before he realised that the small wooden hut he passed on multiple occasions was actually unoccupied and had belonged to the previous medicine man… he felt particularly stupid for missing that. The last task was the easiest, he had to create and modify some armour and weapons with the blacksmith – he already had some nice materials from all the stea-scavaging he had done while exploring the area, the staff he made felt particularly nice in his hands and the armour was nice enough.

One of the main problems he had run into was the amount of people in the town that had mistaken him for a woman, especially when he had his long, fiery hair down and when he wore tight leather outfits – he didn’t mind being mistaken so much as the disappointed looks people got when they realised he was male, being as ‘famous’ as he was he would have thought that most people in the town would have recognised him by now. His unique looks certainly stood out, his snow white skin, waist-length fiery hair and his extremely short stature paired with his excessive amount of jewellery and revealing outfits seems like it would make an impression and let people remember who somewhat closed the hole in the sky.

Na’etherrial had already been shot down – very kindly which only made it stung more – by the handsome blonde but he supposed he could understand why it wouldn’t work, they could barely communicate so how would a relationship even work? He had picked up the meanings of a few words, trying to practice them by himself at night but it wasn’t going to well – he stumbled over the words and pronunciation and it hardly sounded like it sound. One of the things he liked was how the stars looked late into the night, ever since _that_ incident he hated being cooped up inside and he preferred climbing trees and sleeping in the branches, it amused most of the villagers to get up in the morning and see the waterfall of his hair flowing over the edge of a branch. They had made a game to see how close they could get to the tree before he woke up and hid from them, peering at them over the branch – he didn’t know that his large golden eyes made him seem like a kitten that was stuck up the tree.

One day Varric came looking for him, they had finally decided that they needed to make their next move and had called a meeting in the ‘war room’ – it seemed that was the room he had been in previously when Cassandra announced the formation of the Inquisition. Leliana, Cassandra, Cullen and the other woman he had seen darting around were gathered in the room, there was a paper spread on a table that they were gathered around and it seemed that there were little markers set on the side of paper and there was one placed on it, somewhere close to the middle on the right.

 

Cassandra was saying something and Varric translated for him, she was saying something about getting a higher status and something about the ‘Chantry’, there was also a mention about where they needed to head to next. Some place called the _Hillterlands? Hinterlands?_ Varric was signing too sloppily to get the proper name – apparently Cassandra said they needed some horses – oh and some ‘Chantry’ lady needed help from them, they were being attacked by apostates – what the fuck were those – and Templars – wasn’t that what Cullen had been? – so the inquisition has decided to offer their aid to the small town being ravaged by the fighting.

Cassandra said they were to leave for the place the next day and that he should pack in accordance, they were going to have supplies at the camp they would arrive at but anything else he wanted to bring along he needed to have packed that afternoon – there would be no returning for a while after they had left. He nodded in understanding and signed if there was anything else they needed to discuss and left when she shook her head, he had some things he needed to get and pack, so for the rest of the was spent by collecting elfroot, metals and killing ram for wool, hide and meat that he could use.

҉҉҉҉҉

The morning they set off saw Na’etherrial in high spirits, he’s never really been out and about before – the only wilderness he had seen was when he was running away from _them_ and that that was surrounding Haven, so he was excited to see what else the world had to offer – the other that shared his conscious with him was equally as excited, the feeling of running through the grass, the wind, the sun on their skin and the sight of the blue sky and the green that surrounded them on occasion made them feel content and free.

All this lasted for a grand old 5 days before they arrived at the camp in the Hinterlands, he was now sporting the beginning of a sun burn, bug bites littered his arms and his hair was a mess from the humidity and sweat. Along with the fact that _Solas_ was there on the trip with them made him all the more grouchier as the other elf keep trying to engage him in conversation no matter how much he tried avoiding him, he had now resorted to just flat out ignoring him although this did not deter the other at all but rather made him all the more persistent.

So when they finally arrived at the camp the first thing Na’etherrial did was find the nearest river or lake he could wash up in and cool down his sun burn – he lathered elfroot on the bugs bites and washed his hair with a mixture of crushed mint leaves and an assortment of wild flowers he had come across. When he was done he finally went to go talk to the scout who had staked the place out and set up the camp for them, he found out that she was in fact a dwarf and that her name was Harding – she informed them of the situation that was happening in the town, how they were being caught in the middle of a war between apostates – which he had learned were in fact rogue mages – and the defected Templar. They were cold, hungry and wounded refugees that had tried to escape from conflict only to find themselves in a bigger fight, he sympathised with them and steeled himself to help them no matter what.

The went down the hill, following the path that lead down to the town and as he passed through a stone passage he heard the sound of fighting, the shouts of people and he could feel the buzz of excess magic that lingered in the air. He started to full out sprint in the direction he could hear the fighting come from, he ignored the shouts of his teams lagging behind him and almost face planted when he skid to a stop just in time to cast a barrier around himself as an arrow came careening toward his head. He returned the shot with a bolt of lightning and grinned in macabre glee when the person let out a shrill shriek of pain before they dropped to the ground, dead and smoking – he gracefully avoided hitting people that wore the uniform of the inquisition soldiers and those that looked like they were helping them.

The other finally joined the fray and the battle turned to their favour, all of them easily bringing down their enemies and helping the soldiers with their attacks – Varric cleanly shooting people through the head, Solas was unfortunately doing great as he shot spell after spell at others, protecting the other two with barrier spells and Cassandra was slashing through their enemies like a monster, he shield blocking blow after blow that she then returned.

They had almost finished off the latest group when Na’etherrial spotted him – the most stunning man he had ever seen, gracefully dancing through enemies, killing them with well-placed spells or with a well time blow with the bottom of him staff. He wore clothes that Na’etherrial recognised instantly, his hair was impeccably styled and his skin was a delectable looking tan colour. He brightened immensely when he heard the man loudly shout out a word that he could actually understand when a nearby Templar swung at him with a large sword, almost nicking him.

“Kaffas!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter although not much happened plot wise.... lol
> 
> Anyone want to take a guess at the mystery person at the end - although its like 200% obvious XD
> 
> Does anyone have ideas on what happened in Na’etherrial's past yet?! Or is it still to vague to guess yet XD
> 
> See you all in a week or two for Chapter 3~


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